Back in November of 2014, country singer Garth Brooks and a fan named Teresa Shaw made headlines for a powerful moment shared during one of the star’s Minneapolis concerts.
The moment happened during Brooks’ performance of “The Dance”, a song written by Tony Arata and Henry Drysdale-Wood that says it’s better we can’t tell the future because it would stop us from experiencing a lot of what life has to offer. KX94.7 reports that the idea for the song came from the movie Peggy Sue Got Married: “Kathleen Turner discovers she can’t alter one aspect of her past without affecting the rest. No one gets to pick their memories, thankfully.” The song itself deals with themes of love and death, and it was named the 1990 Song of the Year by Academy Country Music.
The woman at the show was Theresa Shaw, an Iowa fan who had been going through chemotherapy for cancer.
The moment between Shaw and Brooks was captured on video, in a clip which has since been viewed over 3.5 MILLION times. It is filmed from the side of the stage and shows Brooks beginning to sing “The Dance”.
“Looking back on the memory of the dance we shared ‘neath the stars above. For a moment all the world was right; how could I have known that you’d ever say goodbye?”
At roughly 1:30, you can see Shaw in the crowd, holding up a sparkling sign that reads, “CHEMO THIS MORNING. GARTH TONIGHT… ENJOYING THE DANCE.”
Shaw slowly makes her way to the front of the stage where her sign catches Brooks’ eye. He then steps towards her and sits on the edge of the stage, singing the song right to her. Eventually, Brooks takes Shaw’s sign and gifts his guitar in return.
Brook’s seems unsettled by the powerful moment. A few seconds later, he holds the sign up on stage, telling the audience, “God just stuck his hand out and wrote, ‘I exist.'” To Shaw, he says, “You have all my strength, you have everybody’s strength in here, and you will kick cancer’s ass!”
On April 30th, 2014, Shaw attended another one of Brooks’ concerts. This time, however, she had a different sign in hand. This one read: “I kicked cancer’s ass. Still enjoying the dance.”
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